Jeff McLane and Zach Berman

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- With Flight Night set for this evening the Eagles held a light practice in shorts this morning at Lehigh. Andy Reid met with a reporters afterward for a news conference and gave all the injury updates, per usual, but the most interesting thing he had to say was that the right cornerback spot was Ellis Hobbs' to lose.

"Yeah, it is that way right now, yeah," Reid said. "I love his attitude, too. He's a fiesty little dude. He likes to play the game. And he's not going to take anything from anybody and I appreciate that."

Hobbs, of course, got into a spirited fight with rookie wide receiver Riley Cooper on the first day of full pads hitting. He's also coming back from neck surgery, and despite that, has looked sharp in camp thus far. His competition was supposed to come from Macho Harris, Joselio Hanson, Trevard Lindley and Dimitri Patterson.

Hanson has mostly played in the "nickel" spot. Lindley has had his moments, but needs more time. Patterson's best shot at making the team is as a special teams contributor. And Harris pulled his hamstring earlier this week and is still quite a ways from returning.

The rest of the Eagles' injury brigade is improving, Reid said. Receiver Jeremy Maclin did not practice Thursday, but Reid said his knee injury wasn't as serious as first thought.

"I don't think he'll be very long," he said.

Maclin worked out indoors along with center A.Q. Shipley (ankle), defensive end Antonio Dixon (concussion) and Harris. Shipley said he was gunning for a Sunday return.

Receiver DeSean Jackson (back) and cornerback Asante Samuel (hamstring) ran on one of the side practice fields Thursday. Running back Mike Bell (hamstring) and tight end Martin Rucker (hamstring) were with them, but appeared to do a little more. Reid said each of those players was getting closer to returning.

Guard Todd Herremans (foot), center Jamaal Jackson (knee) and defensive end Victor Abiamiri (knee) are still on the PUP list. Reid was questioned several times about a possible return for Herremans but was evasive about a timetable.

The second annual Flight Night kicks off at 7 p.m. tonight at Lincoln Financial Field. Last year, the Eagles endured a few injuries during the practice, most notably when linebacker Stewart Bradley tore his ACL. Reid said Bradley would likely participate. Both said they weren't worried about a possible repeat injury or an unneccessary injury from another player.

"There was no contact," Reid said of Bradley's injury last Aug. 2. "It was a freak thing."

Reid would not commit to the practice having "live" tackling, however.

"We'll see," Reid said. "We'll see how that works."

Speaking of ACLs, Reid was asked about tight end Cornelius Ingram, who is trying to come back from back-to-back knee injuries. Ingram hasn't looked nearly as explosive as he did during last year's training camp.

Reid said that Ingram "didn't have confidence in his leg" in the early going, but that he thinks "he's doing some things better."